The Cassation Court Sent the Case of Yelena Menchikova From Cherkessk for a New Trial. Earlier, the Court Gave Her a Five-Year Suspended Sentence

On December 5, 2022, the Fifth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in the city of Pyatigorsk overturned the verdict and the appeal ruling in the case of 58-year-old Yelena Menchikova, who is disabled, and sent her case for a new trial before other judges.

The believer's sentence was announced in December 2021. Two months later, the appeallate court confirmed her sentence, but waived her court costs.

Yelena Menchikova considers the earlier decisions of the courts to be unjust, as she stated in her cassation appeal: “In fact, the court, in violation of Article 28 of the RF Constitution and other provisions of current legislation, ruled that I am deprived of the right to profess my faith.”

This is how the believer argued her position: “Neither the verdict nor the appeal ruling contained a single example of a statement that was extremist in nature ... I was found guilty without grounds, specifically, for discussing religious topics with others, praying and singing religious songs. [...] The verdict is an act of direct and indirect religious discrimination. The Court treated me differently than representatives of "traditional" religions, without having a reasonable and objective basis for this. In fact, I was found guilty of engaging in religious activity as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.”

In its judgment of June 7, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights fully acquitted Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, stating: “Peacefully seeking to convince others of the superiority of one’s own religion and urging them to abandon 'false religions' and join the 'true one' is a legitimate form of exercise of the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression” (§ 156).